An image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording medium using developer or ink. After a period of operation, the supply of the developer may become exhausted or component members may become worn out, resulting in poor image quality or even the inability to form any additional images. Some components of the image forming apparatus, e.g., the container for the supply of developer or an image holding member, are provided as replaceable cartridges that can be removed from the housing or the main body of the image forming apparatus for replacement with new cartridges.
Such detachable cartridges may however experience some movement from the intended operational mounting position, for example, due to the vibration during the image forming operations or an external impact. An image forming apparatus thus typically adopts some structure for preventing the cartridge from becoming detached by such movements.
Such detachment preventive structure generally includes the cartridge being pressed by an elastic force, for example, of a spring, and thus requires a user to exert some force to overcome the elastic force when mounting the cartridge into the main body. As the elastic force becomes greater to improve the secure mounting of the cartridge, the user is required to exert a greater mounting force, increasing the likelihood of the improper or incomplete mounting of the cartridge. Such improperly or incompletely mounted cartridge may result in the defects in the resulting image on the recording medium, malfunctioning of the image forming apparatus or even in a permanent damage to the image forming apparatus due to misalignment with other components.